COLUMBIANA COUNTY FAIR 5-year-old learns farm life

Juniors care for the animals and prepare them for the competitions.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Preparing to enter the show ring for the first time ever, 5-year-old Jade Huff wasn't afraid to take the heifer by the tail.
Jade, daughter of Tami Bardo of Salem, was preparing to participate in the mini dairy showmanship class Wednesday at the Columbiana County Fair.
She slipped into the stall beside Christina, one of her uncle Les Bardo's Brown Swiss heifers, brushed the animal and combed the tangles out of its tail. She then practiced leading the heifer around in a circle.
Everyone has to start somewhere, and for many junior fair dairy exhibitors, that's the mini dairy showmanship class.
After the junior fair dairy classes, which took most of the day on Wednesday, about a dozen youngsters 8 and younger took turns leading dairy heifers through the show ring.
Tami Bardo said the mini dairy showmanship class gives youngsters a chance to see what it's like to show an animal at the fair. Each participant receives a trophy for their participation.
Earlier in the day Jade wasn't certain she wanted to participate, but it didn't take much coaxing for her to change her mind. Bardo cousins, all seasoned veterans of the show ring, told her it would be fun and that one of them would accompany her.
By the time the call came for mini dairy showmanship participants to go to the ring, she was excited and a little nervous.
Farm work and fun
Jade said she enjoys her uncle's farm and likes being around the cows. She wants to join 4-H and have her own calves and cows to show one day.
She has a few more years to wait, because 4-H members must be 9 years old or in the third grade. In a few weeks Jade will enter kindergarten in the West Branch School District.
Jade said when she is at her uncle's farm, where there are "red cows and some black ones," she sometimes helps with the milking. She chases the cows out of the milking parlor once they've been milked.
She also helps feed the calves, "either with a bottle or a bucket," she said.
Fun around her uncle's barn also includes chasing the barn cats and kittens, she noted.
Jade said she was having a fun time at the fair, and her favorite part of the fair is riding the rides.
She showed she knows her way around a dairy barn, however, and that she understands the importance of farm hygiene.
After returning the heifer to its stall, Jade immediately picked up a bottle of hand sanitizer and washed her hands.
"If you are going to be at the fair, then you always have to have the hand sanitizer there," she concluded.
tullis@vindy.com